Inspiral Carpets concluded their four-day weekend of shows with a visit to the wonderful Lowther Pavilion in Lytham to perform a mix of hits and deep cuts to a bank holiday Sunday audience. With Martyn Walsh back in the saddle on bass, they rolled back the years and reminded us why we fell in love with them in the first place.
K-Estate open up the night and there’s a familiar face at the helm in Kaiden Nolan. Better known for his solo work here he shares lead vocals with Agatha Riley in a project described indie electronic disco. It’s their first-ever live gig so there’s a few minor issues with the synths but nothing to detract from the very positive first impression they leave as they win over the audience with a sound that wouldn’t have been out of place when Inspiral Carpets first broke at the start of the Madchester era, albeit made fresh and exciting, a modern take on Happy Mondays in the way Kaiden and Agatha’s vocals interact. Debut single Are You Feeling Alive? doesn’t particularly stand out given the strength of the whole set which contains a number of potential future singles, Rat Race and What’s The Deal being the highlights. With a debut Manchester headline about to be announced for July they’re a band to keep a close eye out for.
It sets the scene for a triumphant set from Inspiral Carpets. No disrespect to Oscar Boon and Jake Fletcher who stood in admirably the last two years, the return of Martyn Walsh and the camaraderie and instinctive connection between the rest of them takes the performance up a level. Craig Gill might never be replaced but in Kev Clark they have a drummer who Clint tells us after a ferocious conclusion to She Comes In The Fall is keeping his spirit alive.
They blast through a set heavy on but not completely greatest hits set that contains most of the ones you’d expect - deliriously received versions of Generations, She Comes In The Fall, Move, Joe, This Is How It Feels, I Want You, Dragging Me Down and Saturn 5. But the magic is in the less obvious. The stretched out intro to Commercial Rain, a so fast it threatens to career off the rails Find Out Why, the gloriously mad Directing Traffic, the subtle beauty of Beast Inside and the psychedelic sprawl of b-side Skidoo make an undeniable case for the Inspirals to be much more than the singles band with a quirky jokey logo that the press painted them as when the Madchester bubble burst.
Martyn’s return has facilitated the revival of tracks from their oft-overlooked self-titled comeback album. Alongside the John Cooper Clarke collaboration Let You Down, the only track from the album in last year’s setlists, Spitfire and You’re So Good For Me both make welcome returns, a throwback to front man Stephen Holt’s first period with the band before he handed the baton over to Tom Hingley just as they were about to break. Holt’s vocals are the best we’ve heard them tonight and credit should go to the Inspirals team as the whole band sound completely on point in what is a real hidden gem of a venue.
There’s a new song too - forthcoming single Drag The Bag feels like a real earworm on first listen and goes down strongly with a crowd that’s appreciative of everything and not just the big hitters in the set. Inspiral Carpets could live on their legacy but it’s refreshing to see them progressing with new music as well as curveball choices in the setlist after last couple of years of obligatory reintroduction.
The joy in the audience is matched by that up on stage. There’s a few references to Oldham’s upcoming Wembley appearance, Clint feigning ignorance to footballing matters and little moments such as a fist bump between Stephen and Clint and Martyn moving around stage to his bandmates in his own inimitable manner. The magic of Inspiral Carpets lies in how they are much greater than the sum of the songs and the individual band members, whichever iteration of the band is your preference if you choose to have one. That Farfisa sound, the choruses that lift you and everyone around you and the way that for ninety minutes they make everything feel just perfect. Long may they continue.
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